The St. Louis Cardinals are playing some good baseball this season, as they’re currently 37-29 and are in second place in the NL Central. They’re getting solid play from several players, and Jordan Walker is the one who has caught the eyes of many.
It hasn’t been the easiest road for Walker to get here, and 2024 and 2025 were not that good to him. Out of the 301 players with at least 162 games across those seasons, Walker ranked 292nd in OPS at .595, between Orlando Arcia and Johan Rojas, according to Tyler Kepner of The Athletic.
“I don’t think I ever really struggled for that long, so it definitely was a shock and it didn’t feel very good at all,” Walker said. “It was a grind, and I think what I underestimated about this game is how mentally tough you have to be. And I feel like every day I was just learning how to be better at that.”
After being ranked in the second percentile at squaring up pitches and the fifth percentile in the launch angle last season, Walker is now in the 25th percentile at squaring balls up and the 53rd percentile in launch-angle sweet spot.
“I’m doing things like I used to do before, but there’s a lot of new things that are incorporated as well: my body placement, stepping more towards the plate, things like that put me in a better position. But I don’t really think that. I’m like, ‘Let me be athletic and let me go to the ball,'” Walker said.
Walker will only continue to get better as the season progresses, but there’s no doubt that he’s doing a lot of good things at the moment to help the Cardinals with where they are now.
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